F 

377 
02133 



AN ADDRESS 



'The Development of 
Southwest Louisiana" 



DELIVERED AT THE 



Louisiana Banker's Association 
Annual Convention 

Lake Charles, Louisiana, April 18, 1906 



/ 



BY W. W, DUS ON 

CROWLEY, LA. 




Class. 



/-< 



— ^ 



Book_J 



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•v^-^- 



DEVELOPMENT OF 

SOUTHWEST 
LOUISIANA 



Compliments of 

W, W, DUSON 

Crowley Louisiana 



ADDRESS 



When your arrangement committee placed 
me on this program for an address upon 
the development of Southwest Louisiana, 
they were evidently laboring under the im- 
pression that this convention would be in 
session for two weeks instead of two days, 
and that at least one week of that time would 
be allotted to me instead of a few minutes, 
for the reason, gentlemen, that you might 
listen to an address for an entire week re- 
garding the wonderful development of the 
several parishes embraced in the term South- 
west Louisiana, more particularly Calcasieu, 
Acadia and Vermilion, and even then the 
story would not half be told. 

However, bearing in mind that the story 
of the world's creation was told in about 
two hundred words, I shall be as brief as 
possible in my remarks upon the develop- 
ment which has been accomplished in this, 
the garden spot of the great southwest. 



Figures and statistics are usualliv very dry 
and uninteresting matter, especially for men- 
like yourselves who must deal with them six 
days in the week, and, perhaps, dream of 
them during your Sunday nap. In fact^ 
some one recently said in support of his 
claim as to the total absence of interest in 
figures, that statistics and the telephone di- 
rectory were the only things in print not /vet 
dramatized. 

However, in some figures there may be 
found facts and results so astounding and 
so remarkable as to be truly dramatic, preg- 
nant with the story of work, energies and 
efiforts ; of undying faith in spite of ridicule 
and doubt, but over which the triumph of 
success stands pre-eminent before you to- 
day. 

It is such figures as these that I want to 
present to you today to show the develop- 
ment of Southwest Louisiana. In fact, ow- 
in^ to the vast ground which could be prop- 
erly covered in an address upon the subject 
given to me, it is only by these figures that 
the story of the several parishes referred to, 



— their condition a score of years ago and 
the present day, their development and their 
wealth of today, can be concisely told, and 
thev will show you an improvement so rapid, 
so steady and withal so sucessful as to aston- 
ish even you who are accustomed to deal 
with h'lg transactions and bi^: results. 

Inasmuch as the greater portion of that 
section of our state referred to as South- 
west Louisiana is within the parishes of 
Calcasieu, Acadia and Vermilion, I shall, 
with your kind permission, devote these re- 
marks and the figures mentioned to these 
three parishes; dividing the space of time 
during which their greatest development 
has been accomplished into two periods, — 
the first to be the ten years of what might be 
called *'the period of awakening," from 
1886 to 1896; and the second, from 1896 to 
the present day, which I shall take the liber- 
ty of terming "a period of primary develop- 
ment," for the reason that it is my firm be- 
lief that in Southwest Louisiana we have 
been and are at the present time merely pass- 
ing through a primary period of develop- 



ment, which is but the opening of 
the gateway to the great future which 
lies before this section of our state. By 
means of these two periods and the com- 
parative figures in connection with the same, 
I shall ei^eavor to paint you a picture of 
Southwest Louisiana as it was twenty years 
ago, ten years ago, and what it is at the 
present day. 

Since the real basis for all revenues and 
expenditures of the state, parochial or muni- 
cipal governments must be the assessed valu- 
ation of the propert^y within their respective 
boundaries, I know of no better basis than 
this to adopt as a means of showing you the 
increase in valuation of the property in the 
three parishes named; and, therefore, I 
would ask your kind attention to the fact 
that in 1886 the assessed valuation of Cal- 
casieu parish (great in size as well as in de- 
velopment) was but $3,191,125. In 1896 
it was more than double that figure, amount- 
ing to $7,379,455; and we also find that 
during her period of primary development 
Calcasieu has averaged even a little better 



than her sister parishes of Acadia and Ver- 
milion, the assessed valuation of the great 
border parish in 1905 having reached the 
enormous proportions of $19,450,590, or 
considerably more than six times what they 
were twenty years ago, and even at that, you 
should bear in mind that within the bound- 
ary lines of the parish of Calcasieu there are 
thousands and thousands of acres of land 
still awaiting the march of this great de- 
velopment of the southwest. 

That our little parish of Acadia has been 
equally as wide awake in the development of 
her fertile areas is shown by the fact that 
her assessed valuation of $1,132,025 in 
1887 (the first year of her existence as a 
separate parish from that of St. Landry) 
was more than doubled during the succeed- 
ing ten years and in 1896 amounted to $2,- 
624,110; and at the close of our period of 
primary development we find that, as a re- 
sult of the development of her resources, 
the assessed valuation of Acadia parish had 
increased even more rapidly than during her 
awakening, and in 1905 amounted to $6,- 



430,895? 01" six times greater than it was 
in her initial year of 1887. 

While Vermilion parish has not taken the 
strides accomplished by Calcasieu and Aca- 
dia during the past twenty years, yet even 
the increase in her assessed valuations are 
worthy of careful consideration, and of the 
plaudits due to great results. In 1886 her 
assessments showed a total of $1,635,756, 
while ten years later, in 1896, they had been 
nearly doubled and amounted to $2,804,796. 
During the past ten years her development 
has been sufficient to bring the assessed valu- 
ation in 1905 up to $4,622,245; and it is 
quite conservative to say that, as a result 
of the great work of reclamation now be- 
ing accomplished by the drainage enterprises 
actually at work within the boundaries of 
Vermilion parish, the next few years will 
find a more rapid increase in her assessments 
than ever before accomplished. 

It is almost sufficient to say that these 
figures speak so loudly for themselves as to 
require no further comment, but before pass- 
ing from this matter of assessments I would 



like to call your kind attention to the fact 
that the assessments for the entire state of 
Louisiana in 1880 were $177,096,459 and 
in 1905 they amounted to $396,821,157, 
Truly a wonderful increase, but when it is 
taken into consideration that the total as- 
sessed value of the entire state increased 
during a period of twenty-five years only 
to the extent of a little over double, and that 
during a period of less than twenty years 
the assessments of Southwest Louisiana, es- 
pecially Calcasieu and Acadia parishes, in- 
creased six times what they were at the be- 
ginning of that period, it can readily be seen 
that the development of Southwest Louisi- 
ana has been far ahead of the state as a 
whole, or any other individual section of 
it, no matter where located. 

Naturally, the revenues, received will also 
be found an advantageous basis for compari- 
son during these periods of our development 
in this part of the state. Therefore I call 
your attention to the fact that in 1886 the 
taxes paid by Calcasieu parish amounted to 
only $19,146.75, while during the following 



ten years the^y were considerably more than 
doubled and in 1896 amounted to $44,- 
zy^y.y^; and we find that in 1905 Calcas- 
ieu's portion of the state's revenues had in- 
creased to the large amount of $116,703.54 
— these figures, of course, referring only to 
the actual state taxes of six mills, and not 
including any special, parochial or municipal 
taxes. 

We find very nearly the same increase in 
Acadia parish, her state taxes for 1887 of 
$6,792.15 havir-- been nearly doubled dur- 
ing her period of awakening, amountinj>- in 
i8q6 to $15,744.66; and during the year 
1905 the taxes of our little parish increas- 
ed to six times what they were during the 
first jvear of her existence or $38,585.37. 

Vermilion parish in 1886 paid into the 
state treasury $9,814.53 in taxes, and in 
1896 increased that sum to $16,829.85, 
wdiile in 1905 her development and increased 
assessments brought her state taxes up to 

It would seem almost unnecessary to go 
further than a presentation of these figures 



on assessments and taxes to demonstrate to 
you the development of Southwest Louisi- 
ana, but there are so many other evidences 
that I desire to present a few more of them 
for your consideration. Take, for instance. 
the taxable area of the three parishes named 
twenty and ten years ago and at the pres- 
ent time. In Acadia parish in 1887 the 
taxable area amounted to only 216,287 acres 
and ten years later (1896) it had increased 
to 349,345 acres, while in 1905 her taxable 
area amounted to 386,988 acres. The in- 
crease during the past ten years was not 
greater for the reason that, having already 
been a portion of one of the best settled 
agricultural parishes of the state, there was 
left only a comparatively small area to be 
taken up and rendered taxable. 

In Vermilion parish in 1886 the taxable 
area amounted to 647,311 acres and in 1896 
to 736,851 acres, while in 1905 it had been 
increased to 791,000 acres, being, of course, 
a great increase over twenty years ago but 
it is in the figures for Calcasieu parish, even 
more than Acadia and Vermilion, that we 



find the greatest increase and the best evi- 
dence of her development. In 1886 her tax- 
able area was only 1,331,725 acres and dur- 
ing her period of awakening, ending 1896, 
the increase has been only comparatively 
small, that year amounting to 1,600,202 
acres; but during the following ten 
years, ending in 1905, we find the 
figures of twenty years ago almost doubled, 
the taxable area of Calcasieu parish in the 
year just recentlv closed havinp- increased 
to 2,388,291 acres of land, figures regard- 
ing which it is a mere waste of your time 
to make further comment. 

In educational matters we can, point with 
pride to the results accomplished in Calca- 
sieu, Acadia and Vermilion parishes, both 
as regards the amount paid by Southwest 
Louisiana into the current school fund of 
the state, and also in the increased enroll- 
ment of our public schools, the number of 
teachers employed and the number of schools 
in existence. 

Calcasieu parish leads in this respect, her 

school taxes having increased from $2,- 
12 



746.54 1" iS86 to $8,225.50 in 1896, an 
increase during her period of awakening of 
over three times what they were in 1886, 
while in 1905 they were fourteen times 
greater, amounting to $25,060.52. 

Acadia parish in 1888 paid into the cur- 
rent school fund only $1,171.40, but in 1896 
this had been increased to a little more than 
double, being $2,903.45, w^hile in 1905 our 
payments into the state school fund were 
ten times what they were twenty years ago, 
or $10,449.63. 

Vermilion parish in 1886 paid into the 
current school fund only $1,602.71, which 
was increased in 1896 to $2,941.06, and con- 
siderably more than doubled during her pri- 
mary development, amounting in 1905 to 
$6,246.66. 

While our payment into the current school 
fund from the parishes of Southwest Louisi- 
ana are a matter of much importance and 
show wonderful increases, yet the records 
covering the increase in school facilities and 
attendance and the great question of educat- 
ing our young people, give the most satis- 

13 



factory showing for the three parishes 
named. 

Calcasieu parish in 1886 had an enroll- 
ment of only 1,250 pupils, 37 teachers and 
-^^y schools, but her development along edu- 
cational lines during the following ten years 
showed a most satisfactory increase and we 
find that in 1896 she boasted of 7,141 pu- 
pils, 150 teachers and 141 schools; and in 
1905 of 8,159 pupils enrolled, 183 teachers 
and 155 public schools. 

In 1888 Acadia parish had only 1,013 pu- 
pils with 28 teachers and 29 schools, having 
one school for which no teacher could be 
provided. In 1896 the number of pupils 
had been increased to 1,614 with 39 teach- 
ers and 37 schools; while in 1905 we had 
in our public schools 3,495 pupils enrolled, 
with ^6 teachers and 58 schools. 

In 1886 there were in Vermilion parish 
469 pupils, 17 teachers and 17 schools, 
which had increased in 1896 to 1,760 pu 
pils, 44 teachers and 40 schools. There 
was a still further increase during the next 
ten years until in 1905 Vermilion had 2,398 

14 



pupils upon the rolls of her public schools, 
with 50 teachers employed and 46 schools. 

As regards the banking facilities in South- 
west Louisiana: While you gentlemen 
are no doubt considerably more familiar 
with that phase of our development than I 
can be, yet at the same time I cannot re 
frain from calling your attention to the 
fact that in 1886, twenty years ago, the only 
local banking facilities enjoyed in South- 
west Louisiana parishes along the Southern 
Pacific, outside of the private banking busi- 
ness conducted in Lake Charles by the 
J. B. Watkins Banking companjV, was 
one regularly organized bank in New 
Iberia, being the little Merchants Bank 
of that city, doing business on a capital of 
$15,000.00, while today there are in that 
section of our state extending from New 
Iberia to the Sabine river thirty-two regu- 
larly organized national and state banks, 
having an aggregate capital of $1,577,150, 
a total surplus of $991,450, and whose un- 
divided profits in March of this year amount- 
ed to $346,218.00. 



15 



Of these thirty-two banks eight are located 
in Calcasieu parish with an aggregate capi- 
tal of $472,500, surplus of $184,750 and un- 
divided profits of $118,521 ; six of them are 
in Acadia parish with an aggregate capital 
of $305,000, surplus of $201,500 and un- 
divided profits of $54,428; and three of 
them are found in Vermilion parish with 
aggregate capital of $150,000, surplus of 
$117,500 and $26,061 undivided profits. 

And in regard to these present day bank- 
ing facilities I wish to repeat (so as to im- 
press it upon you) that twenty years ago 
there was not a single bank in existence in 
these three parishes except the private bank- 
ing house of J. B. Watkins of Lake Charles 
already referred to. 

Some of you may have thought that in 
handling this subject I would inflict upon 
you a lengthy discourse upon the rice indus- 
try, but in this you were mistaken. The 
history of the rice industry of Southwest 
Louisiana is so pregnant with big results 
and great development that it has been her- 
alded abroad year after year until all who 



16 



are in the least interested in Southwest 
Louisiana know what the rice industry has 
accomplished during the past few years. 

Therefore, suffice to say that lands which 
twenty years ago were valued at twenty-five, 
fiftiy or seventy-five cents per acre and con- 
sidered as of value only for grazing pur- 
poses are today held at forty, fifty and sixty 
dollars per acre and are well known to be 
capable of raising any agricultural product 
or fruit which can be grown in our climate. 
These lands are held at these values as rice 
farms and in some instances where the prop- 
erty is nearby or adjoining our little cities, it 
cannot be bought even at these figures. Per- 
mit me to cite one individual instance of the 
rapid enhancement in the values of our 
lands: The Ferett tract of land, amount- 
ing to 174 acres, upon which now stands 
the city of Crowley, was sold in 1886 for 
the sum of $80 or a fraction less than forty- 
five cents per acre; and the assessed valua- 
tion of the city of Crowley in 1905, just 
twenty years later, was $1,602,900. 

It was in 1886 that a small rice mill was 



17 



built in Rayne, being- the first country mill in 
Southwest Louisiana; but it was not until 
1893 that the real foundation for the rice 
milling industry of this section of the state 
was established by the erection in Crowley 
of a two story rice mill in a building 34 by 
T,6 feet in size, equipped with what was then 
considered improved machinery. The en- 
gine for this mill was a fifty horsepower 
afifair, used at a pumping station during the 
irrigating season and then hauled to the 
mill when ready for operations. This little 
mill, whose entire structure was hardly 
larger than the engine room of an up-to- 
date plant, was the nucleus of what has 
grown to be the principal industry of South- 
west Louisiana, and which we find in this 
good jear of 1906 has grown until there 
are today thirty-three large rice mills lo- 
cated within the confines of Calcasieu, Aca- 
dia and Vermilion parishes, our little city 
of Crowley being the principal milling cen- 
ter with its ten rice mills, all of which have 
been erected since our first experiment in 
1893, the largest rice mill in Louisiana being 

18 



located here in Lake Charles. And you 
must also bear in mind that the feeble start 
made by us in Crowley was the beginning 
of the entire country rice milling industry, 
which now extends from Donaldsonville on 
the Mississippi river to Brownsville, Texas, 
on the Rio Grande. 

The matter of rice irrigation has also 
taken great strides within a comparatively 
very few years. Prior to 1890, just sixteen 
years ago, such rice crops as were raised in 
Southwest Louisiana were dependent entire- 
ly upon the rainfall, which was stored until 
needed by means of levees built with shovels 
along the lower edge of the high lands, 
which were utilized as a watershed, the 
levees being cut and the water permitted 
to drain down upon the rice fields when the 
proper time for irrigation had arrived. The 
next step in the irrigation investigatioUvS 
was to dam up the guUeys or coulees and let 
them fill with water during the winter sea- 
son, the water then being pumped out upon 
the rice fields when needed bjy means of 
small steam pumps, and which proved jto 

19 



be the germ from which the great irrigat- 
ing system of today has been realized. 

From 1890 to 1894 continued experi- 
ments in rice irrigation were made, and 
in the latter year the first three miles of rice 
irrigating canals ever constructed in South- 
west Louisiana was found in operation in 
Acadia parish. Prior to that time the acre- 
age in rice in Calcasieu, Acadia and Ver- 
milion parishes had been (comparatively 
speaking) very small, and twenty years ago 
it amounted to practically nothing at all. 
However, as a result of the successful ex- 
periments in upland irrigation, additional 
canals were rapidly constructed until today 
they stretch out like unto a network all over 
Southwest Louisiana; and there are, on a 
conservative estimate, in the three parishes 
named, at least thirty-four different irrigat- 
ing canals with an aggregate of 399 miles 
of main canals, 580 miles of laterals, and a 
total acreage of 243,394 acres of as fine rice 
lands as can be found upon this earth, which 
are capable of producing a rice crop of ap- 
proximately two and one-half million bags, 



20 



as against about 45,000 bags hauled by the 
Southern Pacific from Southwest Louisiana 
in 1886. 

The discovery of oil in Calcasieu and 
Acadia parishes has, of course, been of great 
benefit to Southwest Louisiana and has 
contributed largely to increasing the wealth 
of her people and the value of her lands. In 
fact the oil industry of Southwest Louisiana 
has rapidly grown to such proportions as to 
become one of the foremost industries of 
our state. As its histor^y will no doubt be 
fully covered by my friend Alba Heywood 
in his address upon "Louisiana and Oil," I 
shall make no further mention of the oil dis- 
coveries. 

In addition to the rice and oil industries, 
there is, within the territory covered by my 
subject, another great industry whose de- 
velopment and increase has been very, very 
rapid, and which is daily increasing in its 
value, its output and its importance among 
the industries of our state. I refer to the 
lumber trade. But as the inauguration and 

development of this industry is a subject 
21 



which of itself is entitled to an address by 
one who can do it a ^eat deal more justice 
than I could possibly hope to give it, and 
as it is located almost entirely in the parish 
of Calcasieu and should, therefore, be hand- 
led by one of the g-entlemen from this great 
border parish, I shall not endeavor to touch 
unon the lumber business. 

This also applies to the immense business 
being done in the sulphur produced within 
a few miles of the city of Lake Charles, the 
product of which mines is said to be the 
purest in the world and which is being ship- 
ped to all parts of the globe in competition 
with the refined article. This sulphur in- 
dustry is also worth^y of much more able 
comment than can be made by me. 

Now let us for a few moments consider 
the means which have created and made pos- 
sible these great industries in Southwest 
Louisiana. What were they? You must 
bear in mind that the efforts which were put 
forth by the little band of men who have 
worked so hard and so faithfully to build 
up from year to year a magnificent and pros- 

23 



perous farming community, the social and 
financial integrity of which would be with- 
out a blemish, were not always along smooth 
roads. In the beginning exactl}^ the re- 
verse was their experience. They had to 
cope w4th a prejudice not only on the part 
of the residents of this entire section, but a 
deep seated belief on the part of almost the 
entire business world of our state upon 
whom we had to call, that the parishes com- 
prising Southwest Louisiana could not be 
made to yield a satisfactory return for the 
money invested. There are gentlemen sit- 
ting in this convention today who will clearly 
recall that when approached for financial as- 
sistance to be used in our efforts they made 
the advances most reluctantly, not so much 
from a fear of failing to have the indebted- 
ness liquidated, but in the belief that by 
lending us their money they were merely 
helping us to increase what they felt could 
onl;y be severe financial losses. 

The men who have labored for the up- 
building of Southwest Louisiana not only 
risked their money and their reputations as 

23 



business men but their very existence be- 
sides because of the opposition and unbe- 
lief from all classes of people; and it was 
not only necessary to overcome local preju- 
dices but also imperative that they create at 
least a small degree of confidence in their 
undertaking before results worthy of the 
name of progress could be shown. The resi- 
dents of this section of the state in gen- 
eral did not feel that the hoped for develop- 
ment pictured to them by the co-workers in 
Southwest Louisiana's progress could be ac- 
complished, and it was onl^y by the most 
earnest efforts that their co-operation was 
secured. In fact, I might say, the first real 
accomplishment was to overcome their op- 
position. 

This much done they were gradually in- 
duced to lend their aid. Our first small suc- 
cesses created an interest, then a confidence, 
and before our period of awakening was well 
under way the good people of Calcasieu, 
Acadia and Vermilion parishes rallied under 
the common flag of progress and develop- 
ment, and to this day have so manfully con- 

24 



tinued to contribute their aid, influence, fin- 
ancial means and their energies as to com- 
mand the admiration of all who know the 
history of Southwest Louisiana. 

In fact, it was because of this "shoulder- 
to-wheel" co-operation of the residents in 
general that the confidence of outside capital 
was gained and their aid secured. This, of 
course, was half the battle won but even 
then we were face to face with another very 
grave question. We had demonstrated to 
our own people and to outside financial in- 
terests what could be done with our lands 
and what wonderful resources lay within 
our grasp, but it was necessary that we 
should have the people to develop them. 
New blood was necessary, immigration must 
be had to develop new lands, and we found 
ourselves facing the problem of turning the 
great tide of western immigration into 
Southwest Louisiana. 

When you take into consideration the fact 
that the lands to be developed lay entirely 
along the line of a single railroad, the man- 
ap-ement of which at that time had no faith 



in this section of the state, and, in fact, 
no interest in its development, you can 
readily realize by what great difficulties we 
were handicapped in our proposition to 
bring in new settlers to open up our fertile 
prairies and reap the harvest which merely 
awaited the successful and progressive farm- 
er. At that time the Southern Pacific com- 
pany had no immigration department what- 
ever, and so far as can be learned, did not 
even contemplate its inauguration; and it 
was due entirely to the persistent efforts of 
the workers in Southwest Louisiana in their 
determination to bring new people into Cal- 
casieu, Acadia and Vermilion parishes that 
the establishment of what is today one of 
the most complete railroad immigration de- 
partments in existence was made absolutely 
necessary. 

Gradually the confidence of the railroad 
officials was gained. Changes in manage- 
ment were made and new men took charge 
who had greater faith in our country, and 
greater foresight than their predecessors, 
until finally the Southern Pacific manage- 

26 



ment was found marching hand in hand with 
the progress of Southwest Louisiana, lend- 
ing every aid possible to assist in the great 
work we are doing; and today they stand 
ever willing and read^y to take any steps 
necessary for the betterment of that very 
section in which at one time their manage- 
ment had not the slightest faith or interest 
whatever. 

The results for the past twenty years 
speak for themselves and require no further 
comments from me, but in closing I want to 
say this : Inasmuch as all that which has 
i^een accomplished in Calcasieu, Vermilion 
and Acadia parishes was done only after 
surmounting every possible obstacle which 
could confront those who were endeavoring 
to develop what was then almost a bare 
prairie, it is safe to say that the development 
alreadv accomplished is but the forerunner 
of what can and will be done in Southwest 
Louisiana within the next ten years. The 
majority of our lands are now owned by 
progressive and up-to-date planters. In- 
stead of hamlets struggling for existence. 

27 



Southwest Louisiana boasts of several pro- 
gressive little cities. New railroads are 
projected throughout this entire section of 
the state and construction work is well un- 
der way in some of them. New enterprises 
are springing up on all sides and those al- 
ready established are branching out and in- 
creasing their business. Our population is 
gradually being increased by a healthy and 
well-to-do immigration, and, therefore, I 
feel safe in prophes^ying that the year 191 6 
will find Southwest Louisiana in the van- 
guard, leading the entire gulf coast in the 
matter of development, increased wealth and 
the value of her products. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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